Update: Sheep, Fish, Trees and More

When I fist made my agreement with Eleanor, we had agreed that I would buy three designs from her. Based partially on your feedback and my own gut feeling, I have decided to enter into negotiations with her to purchase three more of her designs. And, after our initial conversation, I am happy to announce that I will be making: Fish, Trees, Sheep, Rabbit, Octopus and Toucans. (Sorry, Owl.) So, kiddies, start saving your loose change.

As I mentioned on one of the comments, I am now in the process of finding shirts to match Eleanor's background colors.

I also had a conversation with a tag manufacturer, today. It seems that I will have a literal label to go along with my brand. Hooray!

Lastly, I have done gone over the numbers a couple of times now, and I believe I should be able to offer the shirts at, or around, $18. I am happy with this decision, and I'd like to thank all of you for making fun of me until I came around. Springheel Jack is better for it. So, thanks!

Presenting: Mark Pedini!

Or, more precisely, his work.

Here are some new designs from Mark, which I like, but the present some issues in terms of silk screening.

I hope these designs will give you a better idea of the variety that I hope to have.

Enjoy!

Homecoming 1

Magnolia

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Homecoming 2

I Shall Never See a T-Shirt As Lovely As a Tree

A lot of people have been asking me about my "esoteric" theme. They complain that they "don't get it" because when the look at Eleanor's design, they say, for example, "It's a tree. What's so esoteric about that?"

Well, the answer is, "Quite a bit, actually."

The word esoteric, for those of you who don't know and are too stubborn to find a dictionary, means "that whose meaning is known to few or a select group". In the case of the tree design, the fact the subject is a common, everyday item doesn't make it any less esoteric. It only means that the design is accessible to most people, which is a good thing. (In my humble opinion, art which is not accessible to most people is pretty f&#*ing worthless.)

The reason the tree design is still esoteric despite being accessible is because the design itself leaves questions unanswered. Why trees? Why is one bigger than the other? Why are the trees influenced by Indian design? Only Eleanor knows the answers to these questions, and that makes the design esoteric.

Now, I know some of you are saying, "So what? Even if all that is true, it's still not VERY esoteric."

And, that would be true too. But, you got to remember how I am positioning my company and my line. A lot of what's out there today is snappy catch phrases and cereal box characters. And, while those things have their place in the t-shirt world, it doesn't make them esoteric.

In fact, they leave nothing to the imagination. If you see the Trix rabbit on a t-shirt, you know what it's all about because you've seen him a thousand times on commercials. It's a known commodity, so there's very little mystery.

With my designs, your getting artwork that is original and distinct. I believe there is a market for this. My designs will not appeal to everyone, nor will every design appeal to every person to my target market. Some people may really love the tree design, while others will prefer the octopus or the rabbits or something from another designer.

The goal for me is to create choices for my customers. I hope the designs they pick will speak to them and give them a feeling of individuality, which (hopefully) will keep them coming back for more.

So, that's the grand vision, and I hope it clears things up.

More Design Fun

The fun keeps on coming. Today, I received more designs from Eleanor. I think they all have potential. Let me know what you think!

Tocans:

Sheep:

Octopus:

Rabbit:

Lag-o

Hey, everybody, sorry about posting the logo late. Sometimes I get a little sidetracked with other issues. Without further ado, here is one version of the logo in all its glory:

Now, you may be asking yourself why did he say "one version". Well, here's the answer: Kyle and I decided that we liked the overall look and layout of the logo but that, in keeping with the esoteric nature of the t-shirts, we would change the logo from time to time, perhaps every time you load the page (if we can figure out how to do that). So far, we like the idea of keeping the basic font and layout the same, but playing around with the colors and presentation to make them look like 70's and 80's screen prints. Here are a few more examples:

I'm getting tired, so I am going to sign off now. Please feel free to comment on the logos.

More later.

What's a Blog Buck Really Worth?

I want to start today's post by giving a shout out to all the people who have thought enough of me to lend me their comments. I truly appreciate it, and it is more valuable than you may think. So, thanks to Eden. Thank you, Al. Gracias, Tricia. You have my unending gratitude, Shaina. What up, Kyle? Merci, Barb. Chandra, you rock! You may be a mom now, but you still got it, Tamsen! Scott, Dave and John, thanks for the words of wisdom from one entrepreneur to another. Jeremy, Emily, Dad and Ginny, thank you for the well wishes and support. Hugs and kisses to Kendra, Krista and everyone else at South Florida Water Management District! If I forgot anyone, I am sure you will let me know about it, but thank you too. And, I would especially like to thank you, Anonymous.

I discovered an interesting fact, today. If you enter “roserash” into Google, my blog comes up first! For you other bloggers out there, you should try this and see how you shake out. I also learned that my blog is worth $1,301.25 according to blogshares.com. Not for nothing, but this seems entirely based on the fact that some of you nice people have linked to my blog. You know who you are, and don't worry, your check is in the mail!

As to what’s going on around here, this week has been mostly consumed with the “signing” of graphic designers. I worked up a rudimentary “Project Commitment Agreement”, with a bunch of “WHEREAS”es, “THEREFORE”s, and “HEREIN”s, which basically outlines everyone’s responsibilities. So far, I have only signed two designers, though the rest are in the pipeline.

I also got myself a color laser printer. This makes my inner geek go ‘It’s so cool.’ I even broke it in by printing a few checks with honest-to-god “Springheel Jack Inc.” checks. Yea, here's to negative cash flow!

Finally, the other major achievement this week was the finalization of the Springheel Jack logo. (Mad props to Kyle.) However, you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it. This is what, I believe, they call, and I could be wrong on this, a “cliff-hanger”. So, click in tomorrow, when the answers to all of your questions will finally be revealed!

Editor’s Note: Not really.

That and $22 Dollars Will Buy You a T-Shirt

I want to revisit the issue of shirt prices because I think I asked the question wrong. Or, at the very least, I did not give enough information.

What I neglected to mention was that I am thinking of offering "free" shipping with any order. So, instead of selling a $18 shirt + S&H, it will be a $22 shirt with free shipping.

I believe offering free shipping will make a difference in some people's decision to buy from me. Obviously, for some people it won't. But, based on some research I've done, people really seem to like free shipping. Some sites practically credit their whole success to offering free shipping. I think that's an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Now, in my mind, it's not really free shipping because I am passing most of the cost on to them. Though, I am picking up some of the shipping cost too. (Average cost of postage ~$5.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, these are American Apparel shirts. I don't know if that makes a difference to people, but it makes a difference to me. AA is a socially conscience shirt company, and it's worth supporting. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean that I can necessarily pass these costs on to the customer.

Another thing to consider is that if I price initially at $22, it gives me flexibility to lower prices at a later date. I can also offer sales and still make a profit. If I price initially at $18, I have less room to go down, and it's very difficult for me to raise prices if the shirts are successful.

Lastly, there is the consideration of how price influences perception. From the outside, an "expensive" shirt will appear to consumers to be of high quality, based solely on the information contained in the price. This will eventually be tested by the consumers, and they will decide for themselves if they overpaid for an item. In terms of image marketing and what I am trying to achieve with my brand, I believe it is important that the price of the shirt also denote quality. Personally, I don't think $18 does that. But, of course, I could be wrong.

Your thoughts?

Things at Work

So, today I recieved my first batch of designs from my very talented designer, Eleanor. I asked her to create designs specifically with women in mind. Granted, these are just a first pass, and I already have some specific feedback I want to give her, but I wanted to let you in on the process. Please feel free to comment on what you like and don't like about the designs.

Fish:

















Owl:

















Tree:

Designers Make Baby Jesus Cry

This past week, I was able to convince 6 designers to make shirt designs for me. This is no small victory, as I am pretty dependent on designers to develop images for me. So far, they have all universally been interested in the "small production runs" idea I had. Others are also interested in the artistic freedom I am giving them in terms of the image. Others still are interested in the possibility of freeing themselves of the business aspect of making and promoting shirts. That's the good news.

The bad news is that it is difficult to work with designers sometimes, and especially difficult to do so across great distances. So much information is conveyed via body language, it almost makes me want to run right out and get web cameras for all of the artists. No specific complaints about the process yet, other than it is taking longer than I would like. I have the ball rolling on a few ideas, but it is still slow going.

Logo update:
Kyle's logo design is getting closer to being finished, though we both took the weekend off. My hope, and dare I say goal, is to finish the logo by the end of this week. I am starting to realize that everything I want to do from a creative standpoint takes about twice as long as I would like it to. Ugh.

Pricing:
One thing I have been struggling with lately is what to charge for my shirts. Here are my considerations. I have priced comparable shirts and they run from $28 at Urban Outfitters to $9 at Gap. Here's the thing: my shirts will be made with American Apparel (AA) t-shirts, which are considerably more expensive. The reason their shirts are more expensive is because they are made in the U.S. and because AA pays their employees living wages. I want to support this type of socially responsible corporation mostly because I want to also be a responsible corporation. Further, I believe my target consumer cares about these types of issues.

However, the downside is that I cannot charge and hope to make a decent profit by selling my shirts at my "ideal" price point. Ideally, I would like to sell the shirts at $18. This would represent a great bargain for the design, quality of shirt and overall uniqueness. It appears as if I will have to charge closer to $22. What are your thoughts about this price? Is it reasonable? I wish I had some sample designs to show you to help make the question easier, but I don't. Sorry. Seriously, I would like your feedback.

Other notable events this past week:
* I set up QuickBooks, so now I can run fancy reports and act like I am in "Upper Management"
* My checks came - with the wrong name on them. Though, I thought "Springhell Jack" was funny, I still had to order new checks.
* I received to Corporate check card in the mail. That's always fun. (It had the right name on it.)
* I visited the silk-screener. They seem like a good group. I look forward to working with them.

I hope you are all doing well. If I haven't spoken to you in a while, at least you know why. (I have been busy.)